


Day One Madness

by mettaverse



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: alice in wonderland au because why not, references to past suicide
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-19
Updated: 2017-06-19
Packaged: 2018-11-15 23:05:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,065
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11241156
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mettaverse/pseuds/mettaverse
Summary: But when this mouse, Pidge, meets with him in secret with a skittish rabbit named Hunk, it changes. “Don't you want to kill him?” She whispers. Kuro doesn't know why he would want that- the guy's a dick, but what would come of it?“Freedom,” is the only word said. There's more tumbling out of her mouth, more squeaks from Hunk but Kuro doesn't hear any of it. Freedom, freedom, freedom- he wonders what it tastes like, and a voice in the back of his head whispers blue.





	Day One Madness

He exists in stages.

 

He was a replacement. A do over, try again, to repent for Hagar's failure. For the Empire's failure, apparently, because what was a Champion if he did not win? What was a monster who could not stand blood? The old one, his predecessor was too soft. Too weak to wrap his hands around a throat, too human to revel in the delicate snap his fingers could bring just from holding a little too tight.

 

When he stumbles out of the pod, he expects to be threatened. The old Champion was a failure, and here, failures are killed. Their blood is the warning painted on the walls of the castle: the King does not tolerate shame in his kingdom.

 

He expects to be told all of the gruesome ways they tortured the old Champion, this Takashi, but he hears none of it. They only say his name in sneers, refer to him as an it as if he were a weapon that came out wrong, too dull, too warped from the forge.

 

He hears what happens from a mouse, small and tiny and, quite frankly, really fucking rude. Takashi was her friend. He was kind to her, in this castle, in this world of Wonders. He was too kind, too soft, and when he found the blood on his hands too think, Takashi turned his hands on himself. Gave himself a necklace made of scarlet.

 

Good thing the King had a thing with red.

 

He hates blue, though, and its seems his loathing has infected even the genetics of Wonderland's residents. No one has blue eyes. With all the people he's killed, all the heads he's ripped off, none have looked at him with blue eyes. Some days, he wonders if it's even possible, for a living creature to bare the embodiment of the King of Heart's counterpart. When Kuro thinks of a world without the King, sometimes, all he can see are blue eyes.

 

The King of Hearts rants about blue. Not just the color, but the person, the one his seers whisper of, sweat dripping down their face- blue, blue, blue everywhere. Blue, a lion from the sky, Blue, a promsie of destruction, of retribution. And some day soon, Blue would come, raining down from the sky and drowning all the red in a sea of magic and redemption.

 

And Kuro wanted it.

 

He doesn't have a life of before; no parents, no memories, no fond humanity to cling to at nightw hen the night terrors creep in. he's a weapon, he's a champion, and he is gold- golden eyes, a sign of regalia, of perfection. Gold burns. And he didn't mind, at first, because he's good at this. He's made for it, like rain made for nourishment, like fire made for warmth. His hands know where to go, his teeth know how to rip, and when a pulse fails and blood gushes he's filled with pride at his handiwork. He champions death in Wonderland. He supplies the red that the King paints his flowers with.

 

But when this mouse, Pidge, meets with him in secret with a skittish rabbit named Hunk, it changes. “Don't you want to kill him?” She whispers. Kuro doesn't know why he would want that- the guy's a dick, but what would come of it?

 

“Freedom,” is the only word said. There's more tumbling out of her mouth, more squeaks from Hunk but Kuro doesn't hear any of it. Freedom, freedom, freedom- he wonders what it tastes like, and a voice in the back of his head whispers blue.

**

 

It was all going great until he got his fucking head chopped off.

 

He was the inside man- Pidge and Hunk had some access to things, but not much, serving as common slaves in the castle. But the castle was the womb Kuro burst through. He walked through it like a predator, stalking, knowing which shadow hid which secret, which person had information. And he gathered it, became a keeper of secrets, information, and handed it off to his companions when the King's back was turned.

 

But one day the King's back turned forward. Caught him. And in front of no one but the castle his head was ripped off, sent tumbling down the castle steps and into a puddle of mud. And he was left.

 

No one really talks about how bad mud tastes like but when your face is literally drowning in the sludge you realize that it tastes really fucking bad. He stayed like that for hours, feeling the rain beat against his detached scalp like a melody he couldn't follow the tempo of. Until he was lifted up in tiny, furry hands and turned to face (haha) Pidge. “Looks like you've finally lost your head.”

 

And Kuro had the strength say one thing:

 

“Fuck off.”

 

And then the world went black.

 

**

He had to endure two hours of head jokes until he was safely stitched back onto his neck.

 

“Looks like we're _heading_ in the right direction,” said Hunk.

 

“Eat my entire ass,” said Kuro.

 

He couldn't fight right away. Somehow, his body wasn’t quite catching up to the idea that it was alive, not dead, so he had to relearn in slow, stumbling steps. The one thin he found solace in was making hats. Really, shitty hats. Ones that Pidge made fun of relentlessly but the shittier they got the more Pidge laughed and honestly, they all needed it, so Kuro kept doing it. Teaching his fingers how to move intricately again, how to hold needles and sew. His eyes noticing details, small stitching and Sometime in the third week and after hundreds of hats his hands stopped shaking and the hats became a little less crap.

 

After that they celebrated getting drunk off their asses, when Hunk cheered out “You're a mad hatter!” and promptly threw up.

 

The name stuck, and soon enough, the tales of Champion were replaced by tales of Mad Hatter, the weapon who wore ridiculously shitty hats in battle.

 

And he made sure all were blue.

 

**

 

It happens on the most normal day.

 

Months after the first initial fighting. Months full of bloodshed, tears, sweat, and running from the King's henchmen. Hunk cured his jitters in favor of giving other people them, crafting robots with Pidge that terrorized loyalists. They both moved a step up from cowering servants and, while he wouldn't say it out loud, Kuro was proud of them. Proud of the way they stood straighter, how their hands no longer shook in the midst of a fight when they realized they had no weapon because now they _were_ the weapon. Hunk finally stopped throwing up after every battle and Pidge stopped pretending to be okay when she really wasn't, instead screaming at the top of her lungs whenever she could.

 

After several battles won in succession, they decided to celebrate. Break open the table, pull out the teapots and cups (Kuro tried to ask Pidge where she hid all of that when they were literally the smallest thing on earth and only had a small backpack but all she did was smile and, quite frankly, that was a little scary, so he stopped asking and just appreciated) and had themselves a party. Which they fell asleep several times during but the intent was there. And Hunk was in the middle of trying to explain a joke when someone stumbled through the woods, cursing up a storm.

 

At first, they thought it was an enemy, but then they all tilted their heads a bit and saw that not only was this boy bleeding just from a walk through the woods he was also wearing a pale, powder blue tea dress that was absolutely not suitable for fighting in the least.

 

The boy looked up, panting, and at the sight of the Mad Hatter and his accomplices didn't look scared in the least. Instead he rose a perfectly shaped eyebrow and put his hands on his hips like a disappointed mother expecting an explanation from her unruly children.

 

It's only when he steps forward when Kuro realizes his eyes are blue. He blinks, blinks again, squints just to make sure- a blue that matches an unmarred sky. A blue that he's seen in his dreams so many times he's stopped counting. He can tell when the others notice it, can hear their gasps and feel the excitement thrum through their bodies. None break the silence, too eager, too excited to hear what their savior will say next.

 

“Right.” Blue squints at them like they're the strangest piece of art he's yet to discover (and quite frankly Kuro is a little offend because all they're doing is having tea.) “Well, I hope you're all decent because that _asshole cat_ -”  


“Keith?” Hunk asks.

 

“ _Keith.”_ Venom drips off the word. “He's a purple, mullet wearing, floating cat that can dissolve into thin air and he's named after the guy who tried to sell me life insurance. What a _dick.”_

 

There's a long beat of silence after that, which the newcomer doesn't seem to mind at all since he's lost mumbling about how “fucking bullshit” Wonderland is.

 

“This is him?” Pidge pushes away from the table and stomps her little feet up on it, disrupting the line of teacups. She traverses the length of it and shoves her face in Blue's so close her glasses clink into the bridge of his nose before he steps back, face screwed. “This is the guy that's gonna kill the King? The guy that's gonna save us all and give us freedom?”

 

Hunk stands up to peer around Pidge. “Obviously it is!” He says. “He has the blue eyes and cute little blue outfit. Of course it is. Though he is a little bit of a twig. Huh. I was expecting...not a twig.” Hunk tilts his head, frowning. “More of a tree. Maybe a branch at least.”

 

Blue swats away Pidge with a dirty hand. “Okay, wow, one- _rude._ Two, my outfit is blue because I had to take a shot of some shit that made me shrink and my perfectly fine, non-blue clothes got too big and this-” he gestures to the powder blue assemble- “is all _Keith_ had on him. Fucking dick. Three, I am not twiggy. Not everyone can swallow boulders like your ill dressed friend here-”

 

“Hey!”

 

“-and besides, tea dresses don't really bring out my swimmer muscles, _which I totally have. Four,”_ he sucks in a breath, “fuck you.”

 

Kuro had expected a dazzling, chivalrous speech about defeating the evil, freeing all the slaves of Zarkon. This was...different. There was no claymore sword, no overzealous bloodlust. Only a boy, covered in dirt and grime and sweat from trekking through the woods. Only a boy with a dirty mouth. But when Kuro looks at him, really looks at him, he can see the fire in those blue eyes. Can smell the power in the air, faint underneath the tea and grass. When Blue catches his stare he doesn't look away in fear, doesn't cower. Blue only stares, a challenge and question all in one- _who are you, and what are you gonna do?_ And Kuro finds himself smiling, fangs poking out from underneath his lips. “I like him.”   


Pidge huffs. “Of course you like him. He has long legs and a heart beat. But he's not gonna save us.”

 

“I said I like him. And I think our foul mouthed friend is gonna save us all, Pidge.” Kuro rips his eyes away from Blue to narrow down on Pidge, her body language already livid.

 

Pidge whips her head around to glare Kuro down, cheeks flushed with pure disapproval and rage. Hunk is quiet, not even bothering to intercede as his eyes were trained on the space between them. Pidge opens up her mouth to say something when Blue cuts her off with, “Can I get drunk? Is there alcohol at this party?”

 

And Hunk actually laughs while Pidge squeaks in surprise. Kuro does a double take of the boy and, of course their savior wants alcohol. Of course this is the one that's gonna save them.

 

“Uh, do you think we'd be drinking tea if there wasn’t?” Kuro snorts, and he can hear Lance's relieved sigh all the way from the head of the table.

 

“Thank _God.”_

 

 

 

 


End file.
